...
We are currently re-mortgaging with the Royal Bank of Scotland. This situation arose because of the lack of customer management at the Halifax.
To cut a long story short, we were with the Halifax, and thanks to their mortgage review, they have just lost our business, because they couldn’t ... Read review
Advantages: Still one of the few banks that have local branches. Also long established staff. Good choice of mortages etc. Disadvantages: none.
...are currently re-mortgaging with the Royal Bank of Scotland. This situation arose because of the lack of customer management at the Halifax.
To cut a long story short, we were with the Halifax, and thanks to their mortgage review, they have just lost our business, because they couldn’t explain why with their lower interest rates, we would be paying £15 a month more than we do now. I didn’t understand it either.
... ...we are customers of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and we also have a bad credit history (a CCJ), we have very limited options open to us. Apart from going to a mortgage broker specialising in problem applications, which charge expensive fees.
I have listed below some of the mortgage options available, I’m not very good at remembering or even understanding APR’s and mortgage rates but here goes. I shall check our info ... more
Edited bit- 22.10.01
Well, everything went through very smoothly. Money was in bank in time for my holidays in August. But the one thing I am so pleased about is since taking out the new mortgage, the rate has dropped 3 times and each time its been reflected in the following months payments. My payment is now about £28 less than it was quoted in June. Of course, I don't expect it to last long, no doubt it will start creeping up just as fast. But if I had stayed with the Halifax I would have been paying £240 per month for the next 12 months....what a difference it makes.
So anyone humming and ahhing about making the move to change mortgage providers, do it, you could be pleasantly surprised.
We are currently re-mortgaging with the Royal Bank of Scotland. This situation arose because of the lack of customer management at the Halifax.
To cut a long story short, we were with the Halifax, and thanks to their mortgage review, they have just lost our business, because they couldn’t explain why with their lower interest rates, we would be paying £15 a month more than we do now. I didn’t understand it either.
We knew something had to be done, as we have a potential problem also with our endowment in that there may be a shortfall when it matures in 17 years time, but that is a long way down the line.
Because we are customers of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and we also have a bad credit history (a CCJ), we have very limited options open to us. Apart from going to a mortgage broker specialising in problem applications, which charge expensive fees.
I have listed below some of the mortgage options available, I’m not very good at remembering or even understanding APR’s and mortgage rates but here goes. I shall check our info when I go home tonight and amend anything, I have got totally back to front.
The RBS are offering an assortment of mortgages:-
A 6 month discounted mortgage at 4%, but the offer runs out at the end of July if my memory serves me right.
A 12 month discounted mortgage at around 5.25%
A 2 year discounted mortgage, which is around 6%. This is the one we’ve gone for.
There is also a flexible type of mortgage (not sure of the correct title of it – but I think you’ll get my drift).
This flexible mortgage is designed for you to pay more money in if you can afford to do so and if you paid £50 a month extra you could save a few thousand pounds on your mortgage interest. It also included a 6 month mortgage break, ideal for any expectant families, could have done with that when I had one of my children. If you take the mortgage break you can only use it once during the term of the mortgage, and you wouldn’t be paying silly amounts back to catch up on your payments, Think it worked out about £20 a month extra on my mortgage.
The flexible mortgage is nothing in comparison to the home improvement type loans that kitchen companies and home improvement companies offer. That’s how we ended up with our CCJ – it was the type of loan where if you didn’t pay a lot more per month, you’d be paying £20 off the loan and the other £50 was extortionate interest. Anyway I digress.
Also the flexible rate mortgage is always guaranteed to be ¾% lower than the banks normal rate.
The re-mortgage package is very good, it includes:- - free survey - free legal fees - no arrangement fees - The only fee payable that is included in the mortgage is the deeds sealing fee.
If at the end of our 2 year discount, we want to move to a better mortgage available at the RBS, we can do so, with supposedly no fees involved.
Customer service
What can I say, it has been excellent. Here’s the running order so far:-
- Saw the mortgage advisor, 19 June.
- Mortgage agreed in principle, the day after, no messing about providing statements etc, because our salaries and bills are all paid through the RBS anyway.
- Surveyor rang us Sunday, 24 June. Survey was done on Monday, I was poorly anyway so was there to let him in etc. Mad few hours Sunday evening, spring cleaning the place, no wonder I felt more yucky on Monday.
- Solicitors were instructed 2 July.
- Wrote straight away to us, we sent info requested to them on Friday 6 July.
- Part of their contract with the RBS is to complete all the legal bits and bobs within a month of being instructed.
- So all being well, should all be sorted by 2 August.
They get a big thumbs up from me. Thumbs down for the Halifax I’m afraid.
Anyone know a plumber, plasterer and decorator in the Manchester/Stockport area. That’s the next bit I need to sort out. We may be living in a building site for a few weeks, but all being well should have a nice shiny downstairs part of our house.
By the way this is the second attempt at writing this review, wrote it directly on Ciao the first time and it lost the lot!!!!
Advantages: Friendly personal service. Disadvantages: None that I know of!
...I have banked with Royal Bank of Scotland ever since they took over Williams & Glynn's Bank nearly 20 years ago and while I've had other bank accounts as well, both personal and treasurers' accounts for some clubs I've been involved in, as well as building society accounts, RBS have always won hands down when it comes to customer service and helpfulness. Also, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, you can phone your branch up and speak to a real person instead ... ...happened but I was lucky.
The Royal Bank of Scotland are only human, and do make mistakes from time to time. Little ones, in my experience, and not very often. They use their vast electronic machine to help, not to hide behind. I wish all banks were this nice! ...
nikmacve 28.04.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages
Advantages: 100%, reasonable rates, MIG(MAP) can be added to loan Disadvantages: fees, long time to do valuation
...other fees.
This is Royal Bank of Scotland WAS helpful. They offer 100% fixed rate or discounted rate mortgages, and consider quite adverse circumstances (higher multiples and slight adverse credit history). We ended up going for a 3-year fixed at 6.45, so that we can get a better rate at the end, and also we expect to move in say 5 years. There are no overhanging redemption charges, so you can settle or change mortgages any time after the 3 years ... ...as they call it at Royal Bank of Scotland. This is quite a large fee (it was 3000 on our mortgage) and some people cannot pay this either. This is where Royal Bank’s unadvertised features come in, and where I am glad we went through an IFA. He told us we could add the MAP to the loan amount, thereby not having to fork out for it immediately. We did this, as fees come to over 2000 and then there is a hell of a lot to buy as First Time Buyers ...
kano 06.07.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages
Advantages: Friendly, accomodating, flexible Disadvantages: Not necessarily the best rates
My circumstances were not quite average, so I found that my best option for a mortgage was Bank of Scotland. I wanted to borrow a highish income multiple but, given that I had a good deposit, they were able accept my application. The mortgage I chose (Personal Choice) is flexible, though not nearly as versatile as the newer current account mortgages. Still, I can over or underpay, make partial repayments or write cheques to borrow more money. I did ... ...Direct facility, and it all went very smoothly. Customer services is perfectly adequate, even if the opening hours are a little restrictive. Everyone is eager to help, and very friendly. My complaints? Given that this is a flexible mortgage, it would be useful to receive statements more than annually. You can phone to check the amount outstanding, but after overpaying and then borrowing money back, it is very easy to get confused. The interest rate ...
caileag 07.12.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages
Advantages: Fast, effective and friendly service - mostly Disadvantages: None detected
Frankly I wasn't too pleased with the fact that my former employer dumped us out of the existing company mortgage scheme into the Skipton (who?) BS when we were outsourced to a large service company. It had been at he back of my mind for some time just to switch to a mortgage provider of my choice as opposed to theirs, who had a Scottish presence and who were competitive as regards rates and type of service. We decided to switch to the RBoS flexible ... ...out to be a few quid cheaper than Skipton but nonetheless had better facilities. (to be precise £204 rather than £213).
Customer Service
At the local Dunkeld Road office of RBoS - I already had a current and savings account there and knew they could be relied on. The lady dealing with our enquiry was polite, efficient and friendly and answered all my (sometimes awkward) questions, with one particularly difficult mathematical query on the 'final ...
Elnoj 18.08.2001 (13.09.2001)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages
Advantages: Better deals available Disadvantages: None, I really like it!
...mortgage has been with the Royal Bank of Scotland since we bought the house, about 4 years ago. It occurred to me, after watching Working Lunch (BBC2) to check that the rates available were the best I could get. (Our situation is fortunate in that we have a small mortgage in relation to the value of the property). I wasn’t really interested in the paperwork to completely re-mortgage either.
After a couple of pleasant conversations with the ... ...no charges, no early redemption fees or other hidden extras.
I strongly recommend the Royal Bank of Scotland to anyone since having dealt with them I am convinced that the staff genuinely are interested in individual cases and don't seem to apply the 'helpdesk drone' flowchart of standard answers. ...
OhBrother 07.03.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages
Promptness of service
Efficiency of service
Competitiveness of char...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages"
Advantages: Flexible Mortgage Product Disadvantages: When Things Go Wrong They Go BADLY Wrong!
technically driving around untaxed and uninsured and had just bounced a cheque to the taxman. All things which I could easily go to prison for. I thank my lucky stars that I didn't have an accident that day. My position would have been precarious indeed!
All this time, Abbey National publicity spokesmen continued to advise the Press that the problem had been ‘fixed’. They admitted to the Press that Abbey National April mortgage payments were ‘accidentally duplicated’. But in my case no payment was due for another three weeks. So they not only made four unauthorised debits to my account but took money to which you they were not entitled without my knowledge or consent. A prime example of an horrendous abuse of the Direct Debit System.
So far as it is now known, the problem stemmed from the RoyalBank of Scotland, who ...
fallen121 06.05.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Abbey Mortgages
Advantages: Flexible, total control, premium service, low cost Disadvantages: lack of face-to-face contact
Innovation...leading the field....people's champion. Branson springs to mind. And Virgin One (now under RoyalBank of Scotland control) delivers in the same manner. With Virgin One gone are the days when one's mortgage value goes up instead of down, interest calculatedted monthly/annually and penalties imposed for daring to pay off huge chunk of your own debt (this is the essence of a mortgage afterall).
Instead you can truly take control of your finances and not be penalised. On the contrary if sensibly handled you will benefit from a falling interest rate (the more you pay off the mortgage the lower the interest rate becomes). The rewards are greatest if all finances are handled through the account - have salaries, under-performing investments and any spare cash paid into the account and, because of the daily interest calculation ...
Advantages: Interest Rates, advisor was friendly Disadvantages: Regultion nightmare, hidden fee's (which are against regulations!)
just cannot take out a mortgage with a company that is blatantly flouting so many legal regulations. So I have told them that I am not proceeding. Here comes the final sting from them though. When I said this to the advisor, she informed me that I would have to pay a £99 withdrawal fee for not going ahead with the mortgage however I have never at any point been told about that. I plan to write a letter to the company to explain that the reason I am withdrawing from the mortgage is that I lost all confidence in them and if they still try to charge me it, I will be taking it a lot further to the regulators.
I obviously cannot comment on the workings of the mortgage once it has been taken out however having worked for the RoyalBank of Scotland in the past, I can honestly say that their mortgage operations really did run pretty ...
flexible, available for 95% mortgages, interest calculated daily, no arrangement fee, no indemnity premium, no tie in period, online/ telephone 24hrs
lacks personal touch, not available for 100% mortgages, (mortgage deeds not stored), may not suit older persons i.e. up to 65 years due to age restric (*)
Similar products and search queries by other users »
Royal Mortgages, Royal Bank Mortgages, Royal of Mortgages, Royal Scotland Mortgages, Royal Bank of Mortgages, Royal Bank Scotland Mortgages, Royal of Scotland Mortgages, Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgages? Click here
